Dont Be A Scrooge
by Smenzer
Summary: Iolaus chases a cooked bird! Comedy. A holiday fic.


Title: Don't Be A Scrooge!  
  
Author: Smenzer  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Pairing: None. Young Hercules  
  
Archive: Yes, please. Let me know if you take it, OK?  
  
Teaser: The guys from Young Hercules eat Christmas dinner  
  
Disclaimer: The characters are not mine. They belong to Studios USA or  
  
Whoever owns the Rights to Young Hercules. This is just for fun. No money is being made.  
  
Iolaus hurried into the large Academy dining hall, hoping he was not late. This was to be the last meal the students at Chiron's Academy would eat together until after Winter Break. Everyone was to have a week off to visit their families or just simply to relax. He found an ampty chair next to Hercules and quickly sat down. Greeting his friends, he breathed in the delicious aromas drifting out from the kitchen. This was NOT the usual oat gruel Chiron liked to feed them, this was roasted turkey! Iolaus' mouth watered as he imagined sinking he teeth into the tender white meat or a big drumstick. "Boy, I hope they bring the food out soon! I'm so hungry I could eat that intire turkey!"  
  
"Well, that turkey is for all of us." Jason reminded him as the young Prince of Corinth calmly waited. "So you better not hog it."  
  
"Yeah," Hercules agreed. "We're all hungry!"  
  
"OK, OK! I won't hog it! I promise!" Iolaus told them with a broad grin on his face, his hands hidden behind his chair. He didn't want his friends to see his fingers were crossed, which meant he didn't have to keep his promise!  
  
"We remember what you did at the last holiday feast!" Jason reminded their curly-haired friend. "You ate all the food!"  
  
"Yeah, and I got sick!" Iolaus told them. Just then the door to the kitchen swung open and Cook came out carrying a huge roasted turkey on a platter. He set the turkey down in the middle of the table and headed back into the kitchen for more food to bring out. Unfortunately, Iolaus was sitting at the middle of the table so the hot steaming turkey was right in front of him! Before anyone could say a word, Iolaus reached out and dragged the big platter right in front of himself!  
  
"Hey!" Hercules yelled as he twisted in his seat to see Iolaus better. "That turkey belongs to all of us, not just you! Didn't you learn anything from last time?"  
  
"Yeah. That it tasted good!" Iolaus reached out to tear off a drumstick. But the turkey hopped off the plate before he could even touch it! It landed on its cooked feet. Then it raced across the table to the other end, startling several cadets who fell off their chairs backward in shock.  
  
"What the...?" Hercules said in surprise as he rose from his chair. Frightened students stampeded from the room, others just stood or sat where they were, watching the turkey.  
  
"Come back here!" Iolaus leaped from his chair onto the table and started to run after the escaping turkey. Plates rattled and crashed to the floor, breaking. The turkey was just in front of him and he leaped for it, doing a belly dive. He crashed to the table and the table broke underneath him, sending Iolaus onto the hard floor. All the dishes landed on top of him and Iolaus covered his head from the breaking pottery.  
  
"Iolaus! You're ruining Yuletide for everyone!" Jason shouted. He had just managed to grab his plate and eating utensils before they had broken with the others.  
  
"But the turkey is getting away!" Iolaus cried as he stumbled to his feet, his boots sliding on bits of broken plate. A spoon was sticking out of the back of his shirt and he careless threw it across the room. The spoon hit Cook as he just came out of the kitchen with a big bowl of cranberries. Cook's eyes rolled up in his head and he fell to the floor, the bowl of cranberries landing on his chest. "Come back here, you bird! Don't you know you're already cooked?"  
  
The headless roasted bird ignored Iolaus and raced across the floor. It zipped between Chiron's hooves as it traveled under the centaur's long body.  
  
"Why are you just standing there for?" Iolaus asked Chiron. "Go after it! You got more feet than I do! Hurry up!"  
  
Chiron just stared at Iolaus.  
  
"You're letting it get away!" Iolaus moaned as he moved around the centaur and hurried after the escaping Yuletide dinner. There! It had just hopped up onto the balance beams in the drill room. The Golden Hunter pressed his belly to the floor and inched forward. Maybe if he could sneak up on it. He didn't have any idea how a headless cooked bird could see where it was going but it obviously could! He was almost upon it. In fact, he was so close he could see bits of stuffing dripping out the body cavity, see the golden richness of its skin.  
  
GROOOOWWWLLLLL!!!!  
  
Iolaus' stomach growled loudly!  
  
The bird turned and spotted the young cadet. It jumped off the beams but stopped in midair. It struggled as it was raised higher and higher.  
  
"Woah! Can it fly, too?" asked Iolaus in confusement.  
  
Strife appeared in a flash of bright blue light. His pale face twisted up as he laughed. The God held the struggling turkey in his hands. The turkey went limp and once again was a cooked turkey. "Boy, I really had you going there! I bet you'll do almost anything for food!"  
  
"That's my turkey!" Iolaus told Strife as he climbed to his feet. "Give it here!"  
  
"Hmmm, that's not what I heard! I thought this turkey belonged to all you loser cadets, not just you. Seems to me you were just being greedy!"  
  
Iolaus thought about it. As much as he hated to admit it, Strife was right. He had been greedy! If he ate the turkey all by himself, he would just get sick. And his friends would be mad at him. Plus then he would miss out on all the other great foods Cook had prepared, like all the yummy pies, cookies and pastries! Not to mention the great sauces! He wanted to eat all of it! "Yeah, I guess I was being a real scrooge in not wanting to share. But I'm just so hungry and I had to wait so long!"  
  
"Everyone else had to wait, too." The God told him. Strife eyed the turkey and licked his lips. "Hmmmm....this turkey looks mighty tasty! Maybe I'll just take a bite..."  
  
"NO!" Iolaus cried as he jumped forward but only ran into Strife's hand.  
  
"Say, why didn't you invite me to this fancy shingding of yours?" Strife asked as he strolled past Iolaus, carrying the turkey back into the dining room. The God couldn't believe how much damage the mortal had caused just by chasing a turkey! And he was going to eat it after it had been running around on the floor, too! Mortals!  
  
With a wave of his hand, Strife repaired the damage Iolaus had done. He placed the turkey back on the plate and re-heated it in a snap. Then he pulled out a chair and sat down next to Hercules.  
  
Hercules stared at Strife with confusion. "What are you doing?"  
  
"Unk says this is the Season of Peace. I don't exactly get that, since he's the War God, but I'm trying to be peaceful, I guess. Maybe I had a little fun but no one was hurt. And I think Curly here needed a lesson on greed!"  
  
"You got that right!" Jason laughed.  
  
So they all sat down and enjoyed Yuletide dinner together. And in the end Iolaus was glad he had not hogged the turkey for himself because he had a lot more fun sharing with his friends! 


End file.
